USAID Challenge and the Netflix Prize

Mobile technology, including everything from inventive applications for smart phones to simple text messaging, is increasingly ubiquitous in the developing world. USAID challenges you to explore its potential through an innovation for maximum development impact in areas such as health, banking, education, agricultural trade, or other pressing development issues.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the U.S. Government agency that delivers economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide on behalf of the American people, is sponsoring a challenge to find the best in mobile innovations for good. Through a NetSquared community vote, fifteen finalists will be chosen. A panel of judges, selected by USAID, will then select the winners. The first place winner will receive a grant of $10,000, the two runner-ups will receive grants of $5,000 each. All three winners will have the opportunity to present their ideas to senior USAID officials, experts, and the public in Washington D.C.

Then there's the Netflix Prize, which I've heard from some insiders was modeled on the success of the X PRIZE. According to their site:

The Netflix Prize seeks to substantially improve the accuracy of predictions about how much someone is going to love a movie based on their movie preferences. Improve it enough and you win one (or more) Prizes. Winning the Netflix Prize improves our ability to connect people to the movies they love.

PRIZE MONEY: $1 Million for the winner, and $50K prizes for "Progress Prizes."

2 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Have you run across the Location Innovation Awards? They also involve a mobile application competition, in this case by Geosmart, which seems to be related to the New Zealand Automobile Association. It looks like it's a NZ-only competition.